YOUNGSTERS SLIP TO DEFEAT

24 September 2012

Andrew Poole

Youth team lose at Preston...

THE SADDLERS' youth team slipped to a 3-2 defeat at Preston North End.

"It was a very physical and competitive game," said Academy Manager, Neil Woods. "We managed to play some fluent football at times, but two individual errors saw us go two goals down in the opening half-an-hour.

"Our hosts were strong and robust and tried to stop us playing at every opportunity, but we managed to pull a goal back ten minutes from half-time through a fine solo effort from Reece Flanagan.

"We started the second period well and finally scored a penalty through Jake Heath to level the scores. We were dominant after the equaliser but couldn't get our noses in front.

"Credit to Preston, they managed to keep us at bay and went on to grab the winner.

"This resulted in us losing our composure and game-plan in the closing stages as we were dragged into Preston's style of play.

"In the end we deserved to take something out of the game, but it was a good learning experience for the boys against a professional and well-drilled outfit.

"We need to be better in forcing our own game-plan onto the opposition, but this is something that we will work on."